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Do Something Drastic – Finance Week

October 13, 2011 in Family, Goals, Life Change, Productivity with Comments Off

Its FINANCE WEEK here on the blog. This past Sunday, I shared a message called “Flip my Finances” as a part of our “Flip My Life” message series.

Each day this week on the blog, you will find great financial tools, videos, etc to help you kick start the changes that you want to make when it comes to your money.

Today: DO SOMETHING DRASTIC

If what you are currently doing with your finances is not working and you want to see your finances flipped around, you may have to do some drastic things.

Real change never comes easy. If it did, we’d all be millionaires!

We all develop bad habits with our money over time. Obviously, I can’t take the time to speak to every bad habit. But I can say this: Your money problems are your fault and it’s only through self-decipline in handling money matters that you can achieve financial peace. It doesn’t matter how great of a system you have or how many steps you take – you can only flip your finances if you change your behavior in regards to money.

Do something drastic. Cancel your cable. Ditch the cell phone or get a cheaper plan. Stop eating out so much. Cut up your credit cards and swear off debt forever! Identify your bad habits and then take them out!

Let me pick on one particular bad habit we have in America as an example: new cars.

Stop buying new cars. How many times have you heard or said, “I’ll always have a car payment”? That’s the normal way of thinking. But normal people today are BROKE. I want to be WEIRD! To get new results, you have to try new things. Several years back, Amber and I decided to sell our cars and buy cheaper, used cars. And that’s what we’ve done ever since. Did you know that if you took the average car payment of $475 that Americans have today and invested it every month over 40 years, you would retire with over 5 million dollars. I LOVE CARS…but I can’t think of any car that I would pay 5 million dollars for.

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Educate Yourself – Finance Week

October 12, 2011 in Family, Life Change, Productivity, Revolution Church with Comments Off

Its FINANCE WEEK here on the blog. This past Sunday, I shared a message called “Flip my Finances” as a part of our “Flip My Life” message series.

Each day this week on the blog, you will find great financial tools, videos, etc to help you kick start the changes that you want to make when it comes to your money.

Today: BEGIN EDUCATING YOURSELF

Between annuities, cd’s, single stocks, bonds, mutual funds, roth ira’s, index funds and all of the other financial investments out there, personal finance can be scary. But to flip our finances, we have to get determined and take action!

Putting money into something you don’t understand is the easiest way in the world to lose it all. Personal finance is 80 percent behavior and only 20 percent head knowledge, which is good because that means you don’t have to spend all of your free time learning and re-learning what all of these investment options are.

In reality, the action you take – praying, budgeting and then actually living by your budget – is probably more important than what you learn.

Still, you need to educate yourself to be successful and flip your finances. The BEST education that you can get on personal finances is super easy and super cheap. I’ve already mentioned it this week – Financial Peace University.

If you just want to learn about the different types of investments that exist, here is a great guide to different investment options. Take 20 minutes to read through this and you will come out with a pretty good understanding of personal investing.

In our home, we do the Dave Ramsey system, which is to invest 15% of your household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement plans.

When you reach this step (number 4 in Dave’s seven steps), you’ll have no payments—except the house—and a fully funded emergency fund. Now it’s time to get serious about building wealth.

Why shouldn’t you invest less than 15%?  Some people choose to invest a small amount, if anything, because they want to get a child through school or pay off the home in a hurry. But the kids’ degrees won’t feed you at retirement, and if you throw all your money into your mortgage at this point, you’ll end up having to sell the house and buy the book 72 Ways to Prepare Alpo and Love It. Bad plan.

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Budgeting – Finance Week

October 11, 2011 in Family, Goals, Productivity, Revolution Church with Comments Off

Its FINANCE WEEK here on the blog. This past Sunday, I shared a message called “Flip my Finances” as a part of our “Flip My Life” message series.

Each day this week on the blog, you will find great financial tools, videos, etc to help you kick start the changes that you want to make when it comes to your money.

Today: THE “B” WORD – BUDGET.

I used to be scared of the “B” word. But then I learned that a budget is really just a PLAN. When you budget, you’re spending on paper and on purpose, before the month begins. Many people view a budget as a straight jacket that keeps them constrained. But that is just not true. A budget allows you to spend your money intentionally.

And best of all, when you do it and stick with it, you’ll actually experience more freedom than before. My family actually found more money once we got on our budget and stuck with it!

These tools are incredible and come from the man that straightened out my finances: Dave Ramsey.

First, I would encourage anyone out there that feels like they are losing with their money to take Dave’s 13 week “Financial Peace University” course. This guy is the real deal. He has helped hundreds of thousands of people pay off their debt, live generously and invest wisely!

One of the first steps I shared on Sunday that we have to take in order to flip our finances is a seemingly simple task: MAKE A BUDGET. Here are some simple budgeting tools with instructions for you to download in PDF form.

  • Here is a sample “quickie budget” you can use. This is a great way to get a quick start! Or if you are a tech geek, you can use Dave’s new online tool here.
  • Here is a sample “monthly cash flow” plan. This is the one we run the finances with in our home.
  • And last, if you have “irregular income” then this one is for you. If your income varies greatly from month to month, don’t buy into the lie that you can’t budget. YOU CAN.

Here are some pointers once you get cracking on your budget:

  • Give it three to four months to start working. It won’t be perfect the first time you do it.
  • Spend every dime on paper before the month begins.
  • Over-fund your groceries category. Most people underfund that category.
  • If married, spouses need to do the budget together. The preacher said “… and you are ONE.”

GO MAKE A BUDGET. GET TO FLIPPIN’!!!

I’ll see ya tomorrow!

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Baby Steps – Finance Week

October 10, 2011 in Family, GOD, Productivity, Revolution Church with Comments Off

Its FINANCE WEEK here on the blog. This past Sunday, I shared a message called “Flip my Finances” as a part of our “Flip My Life” message series.

Each day this week on the blog, you will find great financial tools, videos, etc to help you kick start the changes that you want to make when it comes to your money.

Today: BABY STEPS.

Here are the first few steps anyone can take to get out of debt and start winning with their finances. My family has done this system and I can personally say that it works! (from Dave Ramsey’s baby steps)
STEP ONE: SAVE $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund

An emergency fund is for those unexpected events in life that you can’t plan for: the loss of a job, an unexpected pregnancy, a faulty car transmission, and the list goes on and on. It’s not a matter of if these events will happen; it’s simply a matter of when they will happen.

STEP TWO: Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball System

This is how my family paid off ALL of our debt. List your debts, excluding the house, in order. The smallest balance should be your number one priority. Don’t worry about interest rates. For a great online debt snowball tool click here. You need some quick wins in order to stay pumped up about getting out of debt! This system provides those wins along the way.

STEP THREE: Save 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings

Once you complete the first two baby steps, you will have built some serious momentum. But don’t start throwing all your “extra” money into investments quite yet. It’s time to build your full emergency fund. Ask yourself, “What would it take for me to live for three to six months if I lost my income?” Your answer to that question is how much you should save.

Use this money for emergencies only: incidents that would have a major impact on you and your family. Keep these savings in a money market account. Remember, this stash of money is not an investment; it is insurance you’re paying to yourself, a buffer between you and life.

This is a good start! Check back the rest of the week for more info on how to FLIP your FINANCES!

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